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CONVOY: of Mexican Trucks
Posted by Kim on September 2nd, 2007
Bush and company are allowing Mexican trucks to take over our highways.
Mexican truckers can begin hauling goods over the border into the U.S. as soon as Thursday after a federal appeals court on Friday refused a request from the Teamsters union and others to block the vehicles.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the Teamsters and other groups suing hadn’t met the legal requirements to justify blocking the program.
“This is the wrong decision for American working men and women. We will now proceed to litigate this case on the merits,” Teamsters General President James Hoffa said in a statement. “We believe this program clearly breaks the law. We will continue to fight for safety and national security in the courts and in Congress.”
Current rules require freight from Mexico to be transferred to U.S. trucks and drivers in the U.S. Under a one-year U.S. pilot program, Mexican trucking companies could move shipments around the U.S. themselves, saving time and money. The program was supposed to start as soon as Thursday.
I surely suspect that truck driving will become one the many jobs Americans just won’t do, fairly soon. Watch and see. Our government giving our jobs to foreigners, again. How many American companies will jump on this opportunity to put profit over safety? Just wait and see.
The U.S. Transportation Department said in a Thursday court filing that Mexican trucks will be pre-screened and inspected for safety before being allowed to travel in the U.S. Mexico promised to reciprocate for U.S. trucks, the agency said.
Forty-four trucks from Mexico are expected to participate in the program during the first 30 days, the U.S. said in the filing. Trucks from as many as 100 companies may eventually participate, the U.S. said.
Canadian trucks have full access to U.S. roads.
Mexican trucks are limited to so-called commercial zones within about 25 miles of the U.S. border.
Is this part of the North American Union we keep hearing about? I hate to imagine being on a road with a truck from Mexico, not knowing the safety of the vehicle or the experience of the driver. Time will show whether this is a bad thing. I think it is.
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:26 am
Talk about a National Security nightmare… Am I actually to believe that the Customs officers at every border checkpoint have the time or the manpower to check EVERY semi that rolls across from Mexico for drugs, illegal aliens and/or terrorists or terrorist material?
Besides that, what are the checks to ensure that these Mexican truckers are as qualified as American truckers to operate their vehicles safely. From what I have seen of Mexican law and operations, everything can be purchased for a price and very rarely is anything NOT corrupt. Time will tell.. all I know is that when I am on the interstate and see a truck with Mexican plates.. I’ll be sure as hell to get on around them and avoid them like the plague….
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Texas will take the brunt of the traffic. Laredo is already one of the busiest places when it comes to 18 wheeler movement, with mexican trucks coming over it’s going to quickly turn into a nightmare. I’ve seen what mexican trucks look like and safety and maintenance are not high on their list of priorities. Just a matter of time before a bad accident happens and than what??
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
I’m concerned about jobs. Right now this is a test run for those who are desiring this. And its limited in numbers.
DO we want tens of thousands of Mexcicans driving the big rigs all over the country? I don’t.
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Knowing how well our government tends to be with oversight issues, THIS is going to be a very dangerous situation. Mexicans will get lax oversight, no doubt. We will trust them to do the right things and not verify it.
How many jobs?
Then, how many American lives?
September 2nd, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Mexicans are taking so many American jobs. Maye we will figure out that Mexicans will take elective office for a lot less then we are paying the present weasels.
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:53 am
SPP (Security & Prosperity Partnership of North America).
By 2010, as they expand our continental security perimeter to cover Mexico, Mexican ports will begin putting U.S. longshoremen and freight handlers out of work as well as our truckers.
Why do you think they hold all SPP conferences in private (except for a staff of consulting “captains of industry” from all three countries), with no media coverage?
Because since there is “nothing major to report” except for the secrecy, SPP’s conferences receive only a quick blip on the radar, then become yesterday’s forgotten news, and the public remains blissfully unaware of any agreements that have been made that we would not condone.
The agenda is a North American Union, and Mexico is the poor cousin in the trio, so their economy, according to the mega-business “consultants”, needs to be enriched at the expense of ours. The only problem there is that it’s not the SPP’s conference attendees who will suffer from this, it’s the rank & file American citizen who doesn’t have a few million in assets to fall back on when his industry is uprooted and moved south to Mexico, where labor makes only a small dent in the petty cash, anyway, but is windfall money for the Mexican economy, just like all the U.S. dollars criminal aliens send home from their illegal and untaxed incomes.
While the SPP is a concept born of convenience to capitalism, the liberals, them bein’ socialists an’ all, will love it. The more people we have out of work, the more social programs they can market, the more federal bureaucracies they can promote and the better their chances for achieving their ultimate goals of gov’t (even if it is comprised of politicians from 3 different countries) having control over the people rather than the other way around.
Just look at the Mexican trucking kerfuffle as a portend of things to come.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:42 am
While I agree that this is a major security problem I am not one of the ones worried that American Truckers are going to lose jobs. I have been involved in the industry for over 10 years as a driver, owner operator and now in safety and training. I have read most of the provisions in the program and the one that may be the saving factor is that they must have insurance with an American Company. Insurance companies are in business just like everybody else to make money and if they are paying out big claims that cuts the profit margin. I am curious about one thing in this whole debate, how come nobody complains about the Canadian drivers that run all across the US, didn’t most of the 9/11 terrorists come from Canada? Just a thought.